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Towne is a slightly cooler Terra-like world, which is geologically young and active. The planet boasts good mineral and lumber wealth. Towne is slightly smaller than Terra but denser; the many active volcanoes and other geological activities continue to give the impression that the world is bigger than it actually is.[54] Possessed of large mountains, deep oceans and a diverse ecosphere, the epitome of the native lifeforms on the planet are the Eiglotherium, a giant, shaggy, six-legged creature.[1]

The planet has five landmasses (continents), which were named for various aspects of ancient science fiction author, Robert E Howard and his fiction-fantasy book series, Conan the Barbarian. The Conan mythos was also the source of the name given to Towne's moon, Conan.[55] Its continents are names: Hyborian, Krom, Fetryl, Howell, and Gherst.[56] Towne has abundant deposits of metallic ores, particularly copper, although the majority of the deposits are located under the various planetary oceans.[1]

Port Howard - located in Circle Bay on the western coast of Hyborian mainland, its was first city established on planet. The city is home of the planetary capital and Towne's major spaceport, Prince John Spaceport.[57]

Kale Bay - Second largest city on planet, this settlement is located on the continent of Gherst in the southern lattiudes of Towne.[58]

The planet was discovered by the scientific community on Terra prior to the invention of the Kearny-Fuchida Drive. Scientists used digitally-aligned orbital telescopes which it made possible to spot Terra-sized worlds in other systems, including Towne.

Towne's actual colonization efforts started with a private concern. C. Augustus Pons, a plankton magnate from Terra, backed and paid for Towne's late twenty-second century settlement effort. The eccentric trillionaire was a fan of author Robert E. Howard. He had the planet's moon named for the adventurer, Conan, and the largest continent named after the Hyborian lands Conan had traveled. Pons also named the planet's main city Port Howard after the author.

The first wave of settlers to arrive on Towne had come from the North American continent on Terra. These colonists continued to name various parts of the planet after aspects of Howard's fantasy world, but later settlers didn't.[60]

While under administration of the Terran Alliance Towne was a proprietary colony, with shareholders in charge of the planet. These shareholders prevented the rapid industrialization that accrued during the preparations being made elsewhere for the what became known as the Outer Reaches Rebellion. This constraint along with shareholder's desire to prevent over-industrialization also preserved the planet's unusual landmark names as well. With Towne's mineral wealth located beneath its oceans it was less desirable to corporate mining concerns, preventing it from being target of raids.[61]

In 2783 First Prince John Davion of the Federated Suns dispatched forces to claim the Towne. At the time, with the Hegemony's collapse, the planet was viewed by the Federated Suns as one few worlds seen worth the effort of securing. Towne had a number of Hegemony industries and quantities of valuable supplies in warehouses across the world, as well as providing a path for the Federated Suns to potentially claim Terra. Towne was taken without opposition. Davion garrisoned the world with elements of the Fifty-sixth Avalon Hussars and 123rd Aerospace Interceptor Wing.[59]

Cooperation within the AFFS was at a historically low ebb at this point, following years of budget cuts to the military transportation budget, leading to units staying on individual worlds for extended periods; this caused an increasing degree of provincialism within the AFFS, both within units and within the command structure. The Fifty-sixth had spent two decades engaged in training exercises against the Fourth Avalon Hussars on Colia in the Draconis March, and was a 'Mech-heavy unit finally coming into its own identity. In contrast, the 123rd was an established unit from Ulan Batar, a world in the Capellan March, and had been attached to the Twelfth Syrtis Fusiliers for a long time - leading to lots of complaints from the Fusiliers at the 123rd being reassigned, despite claims from the High Command that the 123rd's experience was needed to counterbalance the lack of experienced aerospace assets in the Fifty-sixth.[59]

On arrival, the Fifty-sixth took up residence in Port Howard on Hyboria and began drilling and training with the local militia, while performing air patrols of the northern hemisphere. The 123rd established itself in Kale Bay, the second-largest city on Towne and the largest city on the southern continent of Gherst, and conducted patrols of the southern hemisphere. The commanding officers of each unit - MajorColin Wilkins of the Fifty-sixth, and MajorImrich Donner of the 123rd - paid lip service in public to their joint commitment to protect and safeguard the inhabitants of town, but in practise communication between the two commands was poor, to the point of being actively dysfunctional. This led to dire consequences in February 2785, when raiding parties from the Capellan Confederation and the Draconis Combine both appeared in-system.[59]

The first raiding party to be detected was from the Seventh Tikonov Lancers, who had emerged from a LaGrange jump point and were burning towards Fetryl, an undefended continent in Towne's southern hemisphere. While interceptors were scrambling to respond, the second raiding party - this time, the Eighteenth Benjamin Regulars - appeared from behind Conan, having emerged from a jump point behind the shadow of Towne's moon. Where the Seventh was burning for Fetryl, the Eighteenth was heading for Hyborian. The two AFFS commands immediately began arguing over which was the greater threat; Major Wilkins argued that the Benjamin Regulars were likely targeting the planetary capital city, and could be the forefront of a larger incursion. Major Donner argued that the Lancers were the greater threat, and accused Wilkins of allowing his regional bias against the Combine influence his argument. While the two commanding offers argued, the raiding parties both managed to make planetfall, the Regulars' landing being almost unopposed, while the Lancers managed to penetrate the 123rds aerospace screen with only minimal damage. Although both raiding parties numbered little more than a reinforced battalion, both were soon wreaking havoc on the ground, burning a trail through undefended warehouses.[59]

The two AFFS commanders realized that their bickering was allowing the raiders to inflict damage, but by the time they agreed on a response, the Lancers were already beginning to fall back; the local militia contingent based in the city of Vale had managed to launch a surprisingly effective guerrilla attack against the Lancers, and the Lancers realized that the militia were willing to fight to hold them up, and allow the AFFS forces to counterattack. Fighters from the 123rd began harassing the Lancers as they fell back, while a detachment from the Fifty-sixth relocated to Fetryl and took over from the local militia. The two commands also launched a joint counterattack against the Eighteenth that, while far from perfect, was enough to convince the Regulars that it was time to leave - but not before the two raiding parties had managed to inflict tens of millions of pounds in damage, loot and destroy seven major warehouses, and kill five thousand civilians and another two hundred and fifty military personnel - almost entirely from the local militia.[59]

Widely regarded as a disaster, the battle on Towne prompted First PrinceJohn Davion to issue the Towne Charter, allowing the citizens of Towne to strengthen their militia and access the military stores in place on Towne, improving their ability to resist raids and invasion. The Combine had recognized how weak the AFFS defenses on Towne were, however.[59][64] In December 2785 another Combine force appeared; this time, it was the Fifth Dieron Regulars leading the assault, backed up by seven regiments of infantry and aerospace support, and escorted by a small naval flotilla. This time, both AFFS units recognized the threat and requested help, but the AFFS High Command was still locked into entrenched provincial attitudes, and it took two months for relief forces to arrive. When those reinforcements arrived in February 2786 they found that both commands had been wiped out, with the survivors either prisoners of war or fighting as guerrillas alongside the tattered remnants of the planetary militia.[59][65][66]

In 2876 Towne was one of the targets of the military campaign instigated by First Prince Carl Davion to retake worlds taken the Draconis Combine. Although he died in effort on David, his campaign reclaimed Towne in progress.[67]

Those defenders stationed in the planetary capital were forced into hiding in the rural regions of Hyboria. The mercenaries would manage to build up number of local resistance groups with the aid of the Popular Militia. Together, they conducted a low-level guerrilla war, which whittled down the occupying Black Dragon forces. By April after the Planetary Chairman's execution of a number of Seventeenth Recon Regiment officers and making threats against their children, the Seventeenth launched what became known as the Battle for Port Howard. As 'Mechs of the Seventeenth Recon fought Black Dragon 'Mechs, a commando team led by Lt. JGCassie Suthorn penetrated the city Administration Building and freed the Seventeenth's dependents. The battle ended when Suthorn managed to capture the invasion's commander and had him commit ritual suicide, captured on holovid broadcast. The death of the invasion commander ended the conflict on Towne.[68]

As a part of Operation SCOUR, the allied coalition invasion of the Protectorate, Towne was raided for reconnaissance information by allied scouts on the 12th of February 3077. The scouts confirmed that not only were there more than two regiments of Protectorate Militia forces on Towne, but there was also a limited but functioning SDS network protecting the world, and that the Blakists were using a large DropShip facility on the planet to convert civilian vessels into Pocket WarShips.[70]

The information on the facilities constructed on Towne by the Word of Blake was obtained by CaptainRoss McKinnon and the Fox's Teeth, who would return with Group I of the Federated Suns task force as a part of SCOUR in April 3077. The Word of Blake had heavily fortified their DropShip facility, located deep within a mountain range on the continent of Howell, and protected it with formidable defenses, including capital missile launchers. This became the site of the fiercest struggle during the campaign to liberate Towne, with the Blakists nearly defeating the combined forces of Group I - believed to consist of the Third Free Worlds Legionnaires, Fifth Crucis Lancers and Fifteenth Arcturan Guards.[71] The defenses proved to be almost as tough as one of the Castle Brian complexes created during the era of the Star League, and drove the coalition troops to desperate measures; Princess Regent Yvonne Steiner-Davion personally authorized the use of orbital bombardment to crack the fortifications, and the Fox-class WarShipFSS Indefatigable moved in response.[72]

As the Indefatigable moved towards Towne, it triggered another layer of defenses in the system that the various DropShips of Group I had failed to trigger; even as the Fox's Teeth were making a dangerous raid on the surface of the planet to disable the capital missile launchers there, hidden missile launchers within the system targeted the Indefatigable. Launch platforms disguised as ore processing stations within the Towne asteroid belt launched dozens of missiles, inflicting heavy damage on the Indefatigable and nearly stymied the liberation effort. As it was, the Indefatigable managed to make it to orbit and bombard the Blakists defenses, allowing Group I to take the planet. The campaign took four weeks from start to finish, and while the 15th Arcturan Guards were ready to deploy on their next operation on the 22nd of April, the other elements of Group I would continue to rebuild on Towne for some time.[72]

The SDS system in the asteroid field around Towne was subsequently determined to be a prototype of the Dragon's Breath Multiple Capital Missile Launch System equipped with conventional missiles, rather than the nuclear weapons later systems would deploy. The successful activation of the SDS network in the Towne system and the damage inflicted on the Indefatigable would turn out to be an unusually successful performance for the SDS system, with later systems inflicted less damage on average.[73]

With the liberation of the Word of Blake Protectorate, Towne and along with other former worlds of the Protectorate became part of the Republic of the Sphere in 3081.[74] The abundant mineral deposits on Towne continued to form the base of Towne's economy during the Dark Age, although other substantial industries on Towne included cattle ranching and hardwoods. The nature of the economy of Towne saw regular imports of industrial 'Mechs, particularly those associated with construction, mining and forestry. Despite centuries of conflict Towne remained a ruggedly beautiful world; the majority of the population continued to live on the northern continent of Hyboria and the southern continent of Gherst, while Krom - located at the south pole - the northern island continent of Howell and the temperate southern continent of Fetryl remaining sparsely populated at best. While Port Howard remained the planetary capital and the site of the Prince John Spaceport, the water-port city of Kale bay on Gherst was the second-largest city on the planet.[1]

In August 3133 the Stormhammers rebel faction launched a raid on Towne. The leader of the raid, Jasek Kelswa-Steiner, had assistance from Lohengrin in modifying a number of Garrot Superheavy Transports that the Stormhammers had seized from the Skye militia. The modifications made the Garrots resemble Skystar Freight Helicopters, ubiquitous civilian cargo haulers. The Stormhammers used these modified helicopters to infiltrate commandos into the Prince John spaceport, seizing the facility easily. The destruction of a sizable number of Skystars in future years may well have been a result of the Stormhammers raid on Towne.[75]

↑Handbook: House Davion, pp. 61-62, 70, "Second Succession War Map & Pendragon, Third Succession War Map" - Towne still Combine world in 2864, but was noted as targeted world Prince Carl's campaign. Town is shown as part of FedSuns as of 3025.